


Visual Metamorphosis

by demonladys



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Light-Hearted, Morfonica, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24829603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonladys/pseuds/demonladys
Summary: At the suggestion of their superstar guitarist and savvy social media influencer, Morfonica decides to carve out the next step of their conjoined paths via… YouTube vlogging.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39





	Visual Metamorphosis

**Author's Note:**

> so this is gonna be a fairly lighthearted project. i'm mostly starting it as an opportunity to practice writing the morfonica girls. and hopefully i can introduce some others to what their characterization is like in canon, too! there will be some shippy stuff later on but i'm tagging as general for now. enjoy!
> 
> EDIT 8/17/2020: i kinda decided this is just gonna remain as a oneshot. sorry to disappoint anyone who was looking forward to more.

Touko Kirigaya has an idea.

And when Touko Kirigaya has an idea, she follows through. She’s the sort of girl who will wake up in the morning and decide she wants something, and by the end of the day she’s gotten it. 

The atmosphere at the station café is surprisingly serene for this hour, the shrubs on the walls within wooden frames always have that calming sort of vibe. Not much company besides the usual barista and a pair of delinquent girls in the corner whom she frequently catches skipping class. There’s a silent, mutual agreement between them that she won’t say anything about it to the student council as long as they stay out of the way.

Touko leans against the cushion of her chair and finds herself sipping down the most peculiar colored smoothie she’s ever had the pleasure of ordering -- something red and brown mixed with greenish darkish blue. The flavor is a pleasant mix of strawberry swirled together with kiwi and maybe a little bit of beef flavoring? She’s calling it now: she’ll be the one to make this place’s sales pop off and strawberry-kiwi-beef will be the hottest item on the menu in no time. With the snap of her phone’s selfie cam and a generous wink, she’s already well on her way to accomplishing just that.

But boosting local business is hardly the only reason she’s here. The station café is also the perfect casual meetup spot after school for Tsukinomori’s (soon-to-be) famous girl band, Morfonica! (Or Monica for short!)

**> gals~! ☆ i got a proposal for ya if you meet me at the café right now!**

Now she’s just gotta wait for her crew to show their faces. “Touko-chan, what’s this all about?” Tsukushi Futaba is the first to arrive of course. That girl is always giving things 110% and Touko’s gotta say she’s reliable as hell. She was the one to take up the mantle of leader, after all, and she’s done a great job so far! On the other hand, though… Touko notices the scrunchy slowly crawling down from Tsukushi’s left twintail. Sometimes this happens where she’ll be all disheveled after practice or even on days with no practice. Touko has to wonder how the hell that happens -- she _did_ mention something about younger siblings a few times so maybe she’s wearing herself down at home, too. She’s told her once or twice to take a chill pill, but Tsukushi's more than a little bit of a workaholic. It’s not easy getting through to her.

“Hey there Fusuke! I’ll explain once the other girls arrive. Don’t wanna have to repeat myself, y’know?”

Tsukushi takes a seat beside her at the table and scans the menu before getting back up to order for herself. In the meantime, Rui arrives with her bangs parted to the side of her face covering one violet eye. She’s got the appearance of a modern-day _Yamato Nadeshiko,_ so beautiful and mannered. But if you looked up the word ‘uptight’ in the dictionary there had to be a picture of Rui Yashio right beside it. At least that’s what Touko had thought for the longest time, but Rui’s change of heart that led her to become a violinist for Morfonica has totally rocked her world. Maybe there’s a heart in there after all! Or maybe there’s something more tumultuous going on beneath that prim and proper face of her’s. Either way, she’s astonishingly pretty and Touko absolutely loves messing with her whenever she gets the chance.

“...” Oftentimes Rui is a woman of few words. She takes a seat across the table nonetheless.

Third to join in is Nanami, her signature black & white hair clip standing out against the backdrop of her peach-color bangs. “Hey hey~” she hums as she sneaks in from her hiding place behind the foliage of potted shrubs near the backroom hallway.

“Eh? Nanami, were you here all along?” Touko asks.

Nanami takes the seat between Tsukushi and Rui, squeezing herself, fitting through like a jigsaw puzzle piece. “Yeah. According to the social success guide I read, it’s best to show up to gatherings not too early but not too late. I wanted to be second or third, but RuiRui showed up before I could decide.”

Nanami Hiromachi has a peculiar way of speaking about herself, and of everyone else. She’s often hiding in bushes or trees when she clearly wants to initiate a conversation, but she’s totally unwilling to make a move. Touko’s tries to help her out -- it’s clear she’s still a newbie when it comes to socializing -- but that’s easier said than done. If she didn’t get so wrapped up inside of her own head and overthink every little interaction, she might have an easier time. Ah well, not much she can do but keep encouraging her to come out of her shell.

And on that note, the band’s timid vocalist of silver arrives with a perplexed look across her face. Mashiro Kurata shifts her head back and forth until Touko stands up and waves to her. “Shiro! That’s everyone!”

“Hello…” Mashiro has definitely eased up a lot since the band’s early days, thank god. She was such a frantic disaster and never gave anything an honest shot before deciding she was trash. She’s really starting to fit into the mold of vocalist now, overcoming some of the stagefright that held her back during their first concert. Touko couldn’t be more proud! Still, it seems she hasn’t quite overcome the general anxiety she mentioned struggling with even around her closest friends. She takes the last open seat right beside Touko herself.

Touko slams her palm on the table and grins wide, eagerly glancing between her four bandmates and bouncing in her seat with each second. “The five of us are off the charts these past few weeks! We’ve been practicing like crazy, plus we had that awesome live show last week!” She clears her throat between sentences, pulling out her phone and opening to YouTube. “But we gotta keep our brand growing! Let the people know what we’re about, yeah?”

The others remain silent, though the glimmer in Tsukushi’s eyes shows the extra attention she’s paying to Touko’s every word. Touko flips her phone to the rest of the group and shows a playlist of vlogs by another small-name girl band formed during the recent girl band boom. “See? These girls got the right idea!”

“I don’t follow,” Rui says with an apathetic blink.

“What I’m saying is that our music slaps so we got an audience. If we wanna reach out even further, we gotta think outside the box! So I’ve got a proposal for y’all: Let’s start a vlog series!”

The four exchange confused glances and slow, uncertain squints. Tsukushi’s lips vibrate like there’s something on the tip of her tongue that she just can’t spit out, while Mashiro looks no less perplexed than she did when she arrived. Rui’s stern indifference remains resolute, her crossed arms against the backdrop of a brick interior wall supplementing that ever-so-slight disappointed glance she sends Touko when the guitarist is a little late to practice. The sort of glance that rhetorically asks, “Why are you wasting everyone’s time?”

Nanami is the first to respond, raising her hands high above her head and wearing an oblivious smile. “Oh, HIna-senpai told me Pastel*Palettes did something like that. If it’s popular, then let’s go for it~.”

Tsukushi downs a huge sip of frappe before releasing a refreshed sigh, ears perked up with energy restored. “I’m in favor, but… how exactly does this work?”

“It’s simple! All we need is some recording equipment and a place to record, then we’ll go on camera and talk all about band life and how awesome we are! Upload it to the internet, wait a day or so and BAM! We’ll be the talk of the town!”

“W-we’re gonna be online for everyone to see? I don’t know about this…” Mashiro winces, sinking back in her seat. The look on her face spells out anxiety and discomfort. Shiro has already had a bad experience with the internet once after their first live show, so Touko gets it. Still, when the vocalist tries to back down from something it usually just takes a good talk to remind her that she’s stronger than she thinks.

“Don’t sweat it Shiro, you’ll do great! You’ve been killing it at our last couple shows, so this should be no biggie for you!”

Mashiro’s tense posture loosens up and there’s a tiny sigh under her breath. She’s still nervous enough to shy away, but Touko can see her trying to pump herself up from under the table.

“So, how about it?” Touko throws one hand down on the wood table and points her other one up to the ceiling, feeling a heroic shine at her index finger’s end like she’s a manga protagonist. “Let’s show the internet what Monica girls are made of~!”

“Ahem.” As soon as everyone starts to seem on board, Rui of course clears her throat to steal all the attention away. Boo, Touko wants to say but keeps quiet for the sake of civil relations. Her fingers clasped together in front of her and elbows on the table, Rui poses like she’s about to deliver a villainous speech to put a damper on Touko’s triumph. “Kirigaya-san, I would normally disagree with your insistence on trying something new for no reason at all. Especially when this could be used as valuable practice time. However, you make a valid point. This would serve as an opportunity to put our name out, and may lead us to more chances to perform. That being said…”

Touko slouches back into her chair and tilts her head, feeling her smile slough into a grimace. Of course, Rui never speaks in genuine compliments. She’s always gotta use it to sugarcoat some complaint or flaw.

“...We may be lacking in manpower and resources to do what you envision. I believe professional-level video logs involve setups not unlike those used in television studios. The five of us would not be enough to cover all necessary roles.”

Touko jolts back up and stares in Rui’s general direction. “That’s all?” Rui nods. Is the world ending, or did Rui Yashio agree to something without being a huge roadblock. Now she doesn’t even have to implement Plan Annoy-The-Violinist-Until-She-Gives-Me-What-I-Want like she normally does. Which on the one hand is a win, and on the other hand, that’s the most fun part. Touko stirs her own hair between her fingers in modest amusement. “That shouldn’t be a problem. We all got connections, right? Now’s as good a time as any to make use of ‘em!”

“I can handle the setup stuff too,” Nanami says. “I’ll have it ready at the atelier by tomorrow if I can.”

“Eh?!” Tsukushi leers at Nanami, not from anger but shock. “That fast?!”

“Oh… Sorry~. If it should take longer, give it more time.” Touko knows Nanami well enough by now to realize that’s a rough translation of ‘I’ll have it ready tonight but I don’t want to seem weird about it.’ Sometimes she just doesn’t get that girl.

Touko leaps from her seat with phone in hand and strikes a victorious pose. “Yay~!” she giggles aloud and flashes a set of selfies while the rest of her bandmates watch the radiant shine of a real life influencer making things happen.

* * *

Much to everyone’s delighted shock, by that next afternoon, the atelier at the Hiromachi residence had been entirely transformed into a television studio, its typical mess of furniture and painting equipment cleared out toward the walls. There are five chairs stationed behind a rounded desk curving outward, similar to the ones you’d see on any old news station. Its flat tabletop stretches just beyond its base, and the whole setup is surrounded by an assortment of studio light stands and cables, all within view of a hi-tech video camera unlike any sold in stores atop a mobile tripod. On one side is a small frame displaying the desk and background, with a lens on the opposite end capturing the vast area surrounding them. Nanami outdid herself this time, even Rui could only stare with her jaw open wide.

“Huheh… huhehehe…” a spectacled girl with dirty brown hair and an adorably nervous grin chuckles to herself. “Futaba-san, I didn’t know your group was using a semi-professional setup… huhehehehe...” Touko can’t tell if Tsukushi’s plus one is eager or terrified, or probably both at once, but she’s quite an interesting character to add to their already zany bunch. 

“I… didn’t either?! Nanami-chan, did you really get all of this together in one night?!” Tsukushi’s wearing an absolutely baffled expression on her face, as she typically does whenever Nanami… well, happens.

“Eh~? I just looked some stuff up online about recording studios… We had some of this equipment in storage here, and the rest I found used.”

There’s another unique character joining them today, a teal-haired tomboy hopping around the room and fidgeting with the camera.“You got a boppin’ thing going on with this place, Nanami-chan! I wanna visit more often!”

Rui reaches out toward Nanami’s friend, scolding her in her typical quiet, overly-formal way, “Hikawa-san, please do not break any of Hiromachi-san’s belongings.”

“Aha~. Don’t worry RuiRui, Hina-senpai knows what she’s doing~. She’s our cameraman after all.”

Meanwhile, the girl Tsukushi brought is already ducked down in a corner of the room inspecting the makeshift soundbooth Nanami somehow managed to throw together with old mattresses and soundproof padding, soundboards and monitors. The whole time, she’s letting out little ‘huhehe’ laughs, her eyes wide with splendor. It’s not quite professional level, but for a quick internet search and what seems to be primarily borrowed and used equipment thrown together overnight, it’s impressive as hell.

“I asked Maya-senpai to help out,” Tsukushi says with a hint of pride, hands on her hips. “Like Touko-chan said, might as well make use of our connections!” The way she stands with sparkles around her like she’s waiting for praise is so cute and earnest, Touko can’t help but ruffle her fingers through the tiny drummer’s hair in gratitude. Fine strands flow like silk between the indents in her skin. By the red on Tsukushi’s face, she might start bouncing around in a flutter if Touko keeps it up.

Mashiro’s eyes have been wide, brimming with awe since the minute she stepped into the atelier. “This place is like… it’s like a machine planet inhabited by androids! All the little devices and knobs and buttons are perfect for helping set the environment they want, and they control what time of day it is with the lights. The soundbooth could be their sleeping quarters where they recharge and, um, maybe they change out their microchips there and it helps with their mood! So they could have a drive for sleepy mode and a drive for study mode or music mode!” Her imagination is running wild and it’s a breath of fresh air compared to self-put downs and aimless cynicism Mashiro can sometimes fall back into. Now she’s just as excited as Touko herself!

Tsukushi steps forward and approaches the rounded out deskspace. From her bright salmon school bag, she pulls out an assorted stack of paper with writing scribbled all across and places it atop the counter. “Um, so I also did some research. We probably want to have some sort of script, right? I started brainstorming, but I’m kind of stumped on where to go with it…”

“Haha, don’t sweat it right now Fusuke~! Great thinking though. Why don’t we give this a test while we’re all here?!” Touko can’t keep her excitement down. She leaps into the air and lets out a “Yahoo!” with all the strength in her lungs, landing just beside a set of cords slithering across the floor.

Rui shakes her head at the chaos between everyone in the room, but sighs and joins Tsukushi behind the desk. Soon the whole band gathers around it in seats mirroring their respective stage positions -- it’s just the natural setup at this point. Clip-on mics tucked away, Hina gives them a thumbs up and a massive grin. She starts a countdown with her fingers.

Three.

Touko sifts around in her seat and angles her face into her favorite selfie position. Gotta get her best angle for the big screen after all. It’s hard to choose though when every angle is her best angle.

Two.

Mashiro’s starting to shrink in her seat, but thankfully Tsukushi gives her sleeve a swift tug and keeps her from hiding away below the desk. No backing out now!

One.

Nanami tilts her head and a couple strands from Rui’s hair fall out of place, covering one eye. With calm elegance, she brushes them back just before the countdown ends and looks even more beautiful in the bright-lit set. Touko shoots her a subtle wink, so subtle she doesn’t even notice.

Action!

* * *

[The five members of Morfonica sit around a curved news station desk, all facing toward the camera. From left to right in the lens: RUI, NANAMI, MASHIRO, TSUKUSHI, and TOUKO. TOUKO beams at the center of the screen with her arms stretched out.]

TOUKO: Hey there Monica fans and fans-to-be! You’re watching Monica Vlogs!

[RUI blinks.]

RUI: ...First on the agenda is come up with a better name.

NANAMI: Eh~? That sounded fine to me.

TSUKUSHI: I’m with Rui-san on this one…

TOUKO: We’ll deal with that later! Now, a word from our sponsor!

[There’s a short pause accompanied by mixed glances of confusion from the other girls.]

MASHIRO: Huh? We have a sponsor already?

TOUKO: Hahaha! Not yet, but maybe when we do our real debut episode.

TSUKUSHI: Who would sponsor us?

NANAMI: I wouldn’t mind a sponsorship from that candy company...

[A voice from offscreen chimes in.]

CAMERAMAN: Oh, maybe you could get Hazawa Coffee to sponsor you!

TSUKUSHI: Hina-senpai, you’re not supposed to be in this!

CAMERAMAN: Ahaha~!

[RUI’s eyes narrow, she glares at the camera with stern conviction. CAMERAMAN remains unfazed, but quiets down nonetheless.]

MASHIRO: So… What are we supposed to talk about in these?

TSUKUSHI: That’s what I’m trying to come up with.

TOUKO: Let’s see what you’ve come up with so far!

[TOUKO slaps her hand on the stack of papers in front of TSUKUSHI, sliding them toward her with a devious smile across her lips.]

TSUKUSHI: Hey!

TOUKO: Introductions… upcoming live shows… guessing games?

TSUKUSHI: Like, we try to see how well we know each other. I was thinking we could do trivia or something, too.

NANAMI: That’s a good idea. Do we have any fanmail?

MASHIRO: Fanmail?

TOUKO: Great idea Nanami! I could advertise for us and hold a Q&A, then we could give answers on the show!

TOUKO: How about you, Rui? Any ideas?

RUI: No.

MASHIRO: Maybe we could talk about our hobbies…! Or our roles in the band!

NANAMI: Oooh, we can hear Shiro-chan’s poetry.

MASHIRO: No!

[In an instant, MASHIRO’s face turns scarlet, she buries her cheeks into her palms trying her best to obscure the camera’s sight on her. As she realizes this isn’t enough to hide her shame, she trips and falls behind the desk.]

NANAMI: One down already.

TSUKUSHI: What the hell? Don’t say it like she died.

NANAMI: Eh~? Did I say something weird?

TOUKO: Ahahaha! I guess this is just our everyday, huh Rui?

[TOUKO bats her eyelashes at RUI and rests her right hand on her cheek, elbow on the countertop. RUI responds with silent indifference.]

TOUKO: Well, either way. This has been Monica vlogs, and stay tuned for more videos soon!

TSUKUSHI: Wait, it’s over already?

RUI: It _was_ just a test.

[NANAMI and TOUKO chuckle as the camera zooms out and the screen fades to black. From behind the camera, CAMERAMAN gives them a shining smile of approval and another voice gives an excited “huhehehe!” and shouts “good work!” from inside the booth.]

[Touko Kirigaya has an idea. And when Touko Kirigaya has an idea, she follows through. Things are coming together even quicker than she could’ve hoped. With her comrades in music at her side, she’s certain this project is yet another important step in Morfonica’s unlit path toward the melody of change they seek together.]

TOUKO: Until next time, ciao~! ☆


End file.
